Introduction for Chapter 2
Use the creative exercise below to get your students thinking about God ' s work in the world . We need to be patiently waiting and watching for Christ ' s return . This exercise and many other creative youth teaching resources are found in Mark Matlock ' s The Youth Worker ' s Fun Kit , available from Shepherd Ministries . See order information at the end of the book .
Objects in Ice Cubes ( from Fun Kit chapter four , " Jump Start " pages 56-57 )
Object : Ice block with object inside Objective : Learn the value of patience and God ' s timing . Question : What would you do to get the object out ?
Scripture : Psalm 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him ; do not fret when men succeed in their ways , when they carry out their wicked schemes .
Psalm 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way . He will exalt you to inherit the land , when the wicked are cut off , you will see it .
How it Works : Several days before meeting , freeze a matchbox car in the center of a block of ice .
On the day of your meeting say this , " What if you lived in Alaska and the car your dad said he ' d give you on your sixteenth birthday came frozen in a huge block of ice ?" Reveal the matchbox car in the block of ice . " What would you do ?" The ideas will come , most of them involving speeding up the melting , breaking the ice , etc . After you have given them ample time to answer say , " According to scientific calculations it would take approximately one year and forty-seven days to thaw a car out of a block of ice in Alaska . But that is exactly what this father wanted to happen . He promised his son a car on his sixteenth birthday , but didn ' t feel he would be ready to operate a vehicle until he was seventeen . "
Give a talk now about how important it is to wait for God ' s timing . Sometimes we ask for things God does not feel we are ready for . Some other examples could be frozen in ice as well and revealed as you mention them : Money ( bills and change in ice ), a job ( McDonald ' s hat in ice ), a girlfriend ( Barbie in ice ). It is important for us to wait until God is ready to give these things to us rather than rush the process .
211